A time of troubles in Hyrule
by Bizzare Twist
Summary: Gannon is nothing more than bones, but somehow the age of good and justice hasn't arrived. Trouble is cropping up everywhere and it'l Links job to deal with it. Rated M for language, violence, and some birds and bees nonsense.
1. A Hero Returned

I do not own Zelda, nor am I affiliated with Nintendo in any way...Except as a fanboy.

Before I get down to writing, I wanna warn you guys that this is my first attempt at a FanFic. So comments are not only welcome, by sought after.

The thunder of hooves, the clash of steel, and the moans of the dying. All this was muffled by the warm material of her masters hat. Enshrined as she was in His golden hair, Navi had time to bitterly reflect on what had happened to bring them to this junction. Her master and her once again riding out to quell a Gerrudo uprising.

It wasn't supposed to have happened like this. With Gannon defeated the land was supposed to be led to times of peace and justice, not teeter on the edge of a civil war. But somehow, with the land restored and the proper king enthroned, new trouble seemed to crop up almost weekly. And as the Royale Pain-in-the-ass was always ready to say: "It is the duty of the Hero to guard the people, and give them a standard to follow."

Finally, the sounds of combat outside ceased, and Navi cautiously peered out from her customary resting place. The field around them was trampled and bloody, men and women lay dead or dying all around them, their bodies full of arrows or dismembered by swords. Her master, Link, sat atop his horse, looking quite different from the boy she had awoken in the Forest a seeming eternity ago.

The promise she had seen when Link took up the Master Sword had been fulfilled. And having grown in the natural way, instead of sleeping for seven year, had given Link a more muscular appearance, and much older eyes. Gone was his traditional green tunic and white leggings. Instead Link had opted for a breastplate of hardened leather, adorned with hundreds of metal rivets. His boots were reinforced with heavy, Goron-forged, steel, and his leather leggings were reinforced on the thighs and shins with hardened leather. Though when not fighting, Link did prefer his traditional garb.

The commander directly under Link approached them, and snapped to attention with a crisp salute. "The rebels are all either surrendered or fled, sir." Unlike most people when talking to Link, the grizzled veterans face was not a mix of wonder and awe. Instead, his eyes bore a look of firm respect and trust. A man who knew wholly what an honor it was to serve under the legendary Hero of Time, but one who refused to be distracted by it.

Link shaded his eyes as he gauged the time by the sun. His squad had met the rebels just as they began their march into the dessert, lately the Gerudo, and other factions, had been banding together, marching to the dessert temple, and then running raids on the Hylian country-side. Naturally the crown frowned on that sort of thing, so the Royal army had had its hands full trying to stop the raiding parties before they got to the farmlands. If any more crops were burned, it could start a deadly famine by winter. Finally, Link answered the man.

"Round up all those surrendered and post a guard. Treat the injured, both theirs and our own. Set out at first light for the capital, you have command until then."

The man snapped a salute to Link. "Yes Sir! May I ask where you will be while we march?"

Link smiled indulgently, despite his legendary status, many of the veterans still thought of him as a child, who needed to be monitored. "I'll be heading to lake Hylia and the Zora city, they've sent a couple messengers to the palace asking for aid, so I figured I'd take a look and report to Her Majesty what I find out." With that, Link nudged Epona and set off at a brisk trot, leaving the commander to take care of the details.

"All right Navi, you've been buzzing around my head like an irate mosquito for about ten minutes now, what is it?" Despite his words, Link smiled at the fairy, she had remained his closest friend ever since the Deku Tree sent her to him.

"Excuse me, mister Hero of Time, big time general SIR! I was just wondering if you intended on eating." During her tirade, Navi alighted on the saddle horn directly in front of Link, and after a pause to catch her breath: "And another thing, fairies most certainly do not BUZZ, we're much too graceful for that." That said, she turned her tiny nose up at him and crossed her arms, waiting for an apology.

Link remained smiling through her entire outburst. "I'm sorry Navi, I should have known better than to insult the perfection that is you, most beautiful of the fairies." Link bowed to her extravagantly. "And to answer your question, no. We're riding strait on to the Zora, and Ruto always insists on forcing a meal on me." Links face grew taut, "And it's always fish, I don't think I can look any sort of fish in the eye after the number of ways I've seen her prepare them. And her favorite is still raw." Link shuddered at the thought of a cold piece of fish presented as food.

Navi simply smiled, knowing that while his official mission was a diplomatic one. Link could never pass up an opportunity to not only see his old friend, but try some fishing in Hylia's well-stocked waters.

Yeah, it's short, I know. But it's more of a teaser thing until I decide exactly how I want this story to run. But to those who read it, one question: do you think I should include what happened in Majora's Mask to this? (As you can probably tell, this follows OoT, and MM is technically part of that.) So comment are welcome. And hopefully you guys will like how this thing rolls!


	2. The Temple's Monster

Ok, this one's gonna run a bit longer now that I know how I want this business to go. Standard disclaimer applies.

At the lake's edge, Link stripped to the waist, and began to wash the dust and grime of the battle from his tired muscles. Unknown to him, not far away a discreet watcher enjoyed the view.

"So, the renegade Fiancee finally comes back to his waiting lady." Ruto, the sometimes mischievous princess of the Zora surfaced right next to our very startled hero. "Oh, I see the sight of me has quite overwhelmed you, and you can not yet summon up sufficient praise for my beauty."

Truthfully, Ruto was a really stunning example of a Zora female. Her scales positively scintillated, and her well-toned body sent most Zora men into an absolute frenzy. But Link was no Zora (excluding brief periods in Termina) and generally immune to Ruto's charms. "Actually, the Prince Consort of Hyrule is here to investigate the problems you've been having, divine princess." Link replied with an easy smile. He was quite used to Ruto's advances, which were rarely genuine after someone had finally explained to her the impossibilities of a relationship between them, due to their differing species.

Ruto affected a hurt pout, "That stuck up Princess Zelda doesn't appreciate you Link, always sending you out on dangerous missions. I think if she truly was the one meant for you, she'd never be able to be away from you."

His cleaning done, Link clambered onto the shore and began digging through his saddlebags, looking for the blue Zora Tunic he always kept with him, along with his Goron Tunic. "Personally, I could do without unrelenting affection from Zelda, it's bad enough when I visit Lon Lon Ranch." His tunic on, Link gracefully dove into the crystal-clear waters of Hylia.

Ruto giggled and followed Link through the entrance to the Zora domain. Wondering how hard it would be to get him to switch into that hunky Zora form again. Thinking about that brought some naughty thoughts to the surface that best remain unmentioned.

The pair climbed out of the water and began the trek to the throne room, since it was an official matter, Link had to present himself to the king of Zoras, despite the time that was likely to be wasted on formal greetings. "Before I go in, why don't you brief me on what's been happening? Your Father is an excellent king, but he takes far too long to say anything of value, and I would like to be back in Hyrule castle before winter." Link stopped in a corridor near the throne room, so once they finished the briefing they could go directly to the king and begin the tedious formalities.

Ruto paused to think before answering, all traces of her former frivolous demeanor gone. "Well, about a month ago, monsters began appearing around the entrance to the Water Temple. We sent in a few Zora warriors to dispatch them, but somehow they were overwhelmed. Since then the monsters have appeared in greater numbers, but never go far from the temple. Our request at the castle is for a detail of elite guards to supplement our own forces, and defeat the monsters in the Temple."

Link listened intently to Ruto's story, and quickly reached a decision. "Since it's just in the temple, I think we can safely assume the other Sages may be faced with a similar dilemma, just in a less advanced stage. Give me one moment." Quickly, Link played out Saria's song on his Ocarina, establishing a connection with his oldest friend.

_Link? Is that you? Is there a problem?_ Saria's thoughts echoed faintly.

_No Saria, I just need to ask you something, have there been any monster sightings in or around the Forest Temple recently?_

_Strange that you should ask. Mido got attacked by Moblins_ _and some other Kokiri have spotted monsters, I just assumed it was an isolated thing that would go away in a while._

_Ok, Saria, keep the Kokiri in the village, I at Hylia helping Ruto right now, but once I'm done I'll go to the Forest Temple and straiten things out._

Ruto simply looked on in mild surprise, though she knew Link could communicate with the Forest Sage over great distances, it was a little disconcerting to see him do it right in front of her. "Well? What did Saria say?" Ruto was trying desperately to sound casual, but in truth she was more than a little awed at Link casual display of some very potent magic.

"Apparently the same thing is happening in the forest, let's finish this up quickly so I can help Saria and the Kokiri." And with a determined stride, Link lead the way into the throne room, where Ruto's morbidly obese father waited to bore them to tears with his nigh-religious adherence to formality.

Surprisingly, however, the king of the Zora was content was only a few words. "Ah, Link, it is always good to see such that the King holds us Zora in such high regard that he is willing to send his soon to be son." The King laughed at a joke only he could fully perceive. "I'm sure Ruto has explained the situation to you, so I won't waste your time be rehashing the details." With that, the King abruptly ended the audience, and promptly fell asleep, his soft snores echoing through the watery halls.

"That was...odd." Link muttered as he and his current partner departed the Kings aquatic hall. Despite their surprise at the King's abrupt manner, Ruto and Link wasted no time in escaping from the throne room, in case Ruto's father should decide he wasn't really satisfied and decide to tack on another hour of pointless political jabber.

The pair were soon at the gates of the water temple, Link was fully outfitted with the plundered treasures of the dungeons across Hyrule (which he had saught out after the battle with Ganondorf 'just in case'). Inside the temple, it was immediately evident that the Zora had played down the infestation of monsters dramatically. The temple was absolutely swarmed with beasts, many of which neither Link nor Ruto could identify.

"By the Three Goddesses! Ruto, this is practically a disaster area! How are we going to deal with all of these?" Link made a weak gesture at the monsters, which had fortunately not noticed them yet.

Ruto looked out at the temple grimly. Since their mission was definitely going to involve combat, Ruto had outfitted herself with a trident and a coral breastplate, which were the traditional arms and armor of the Zoran army. "I know, our best bet would probably be to start at Morpha's chamber. The temple was built primarily to house that thing, and I'm sure whatever had caused this decided that that chamber would serve as an excellent den."

Link merely shrugged, he didn't have any better ideas, and since he had opened the entire dungeon already, there wasn't anything really standing in their way. So, with a sigh he drew his sword, strapped on his shield, and grimly advanced upon the nearest group of monsters.

The fight was short but intense. The monsters vaguely resembled Lizardfoes, but instead of the green or red that was the common color, these were blue. They also were larger and sported fins along their backs, and flaps of skin between their fingers and toes. They also outfitted themselves differently, with short-spears and bucklers.

Link lead the charge, deftly side-stepping the clumsy strike of the first creature, he stomped on the shaft of the spear, breaking off the head and disarming his opponent. With a roar, the creature tried to slam Link with its shield, but Link easily parried the clumsy blow, and sank his sword deep into the monster's chest.

Following behind Link, Ruto's method lacked her counter-part's finesse, but made up for it in efficiency. Ruto simply charged the beasts, and impaled one with her trident before it could bring its shield to bear. The barbed spearhead stuck in an angry wounded lizardman, Ruto summoned up her Sage magic to blind another before it could stab her. Link finished that one with a thrust to the side, and the monster impaled on Ruto's spear finally died, allowing her to remove the weapon without risking a limb.

Panting, and flushed with adrenaline, Ruto tried to compose herself. "Interesting, and you do this for a living?"

Link smiled at his friend. The fight had barely even made him breathe hard, but then again, he was a veteran at this. "Yeah, I've been looking for something more exciting though, like avalanche racing." Laughing, the pair quickly made their way toward Morpha's chamber.

After a few minutes of walking, the two came into a large room that had not been there either of the times Link had come to the temple. The room had obviously been created by knocking down the previously existing walls, the debris had not been cleaned and ominous shadows stretched out from the piles of broken rock. Ankle deep water covered the floor, though shadows in certain areas gave evidence of deeper pools. Almost as soon as the pair entered, bubbles began to come boiling out of the central pool.

"Ruto, get behind me now!" Link had no idea what was going on, but his danger-sense was telling him to be ready for a fight. Silently, Ruto obeyed Link's command, and stood trembling behind the hero. "Navi," Link called his fairy companion, who, as usual, had been relaxing in under Link's hat until needed. At his call, though, she flew out and hovered a foot in front of his face. "Be ready, something happening in here, and I'm probably going to need your help in fighting this thing." The Fairy nodded, and then began to circle the pool, which was now frothing wildly.

Cautiously, Link approached the pool, sword drawn and shield raised, ready for anything. When he was within ten feet of the pool, a massive serpentine head erupted from the shadowy waters. The creature clawed its way out of the pool, revealing a monster about forty feet long and six feet thick. The head resembled a cross between a canine and a lizard, its muzzle bristling with teeth the size of daggers. Its forehead was adorned with six beady black eyes, all directed at Link.

The beast hissed, a sound like steam coming from the bowels of hell, and slithered forward, its mouth agape, at Link. Navi shouted her warning, and Link rolled safely to the side of the beast, and Ruto immediately ran the other way, cowering behind a pile of rubble and staying out of the fight. The creature reoriented on Link, and began its slithering charge again, and this time the hero did not move. Fingering the talisman that one of the Great Fairies had given him, Link uttered the command, and was immediately surrounded by a crystal of force.

The beast, thinking its victory at hand, tried to bite the hero, and promptly broke several teeth on the invisible barrier. So protected, Link forwent his shield and drew his massive two-handed sword. The sword glittered in the dim light as Link swung at the beasts head, laying open a surprisingly shallow wound across the thing face. It's hide was, apparently, quite think.

"Link!" Navi shouted from above the creature. "I don't really know what this thing is, but it looks to me a lot like Volvagia, try the hammer!"

O NOES! T3H CLIFFHANGER! I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I love writing combat and this gave me a good chance to really practice it. This story is also a great way to polish my style (though it would be easier if I had some comments from the first chapter to tell me what OTHER people think). Stay tuned for the epic conclusion to this fight! And some revelations on just what the hell is going on!


End file.
